Viswanathan Anand started the revolution

Did you know India has produced 17 champions who have brought home the world chess titles, from all levels, a whopping 28 times?

In 2008 alone, seven world titles have come India’s way. Clearly, the revolution started by Viswanathan Anand in 1987 is churning out world champions like in no other sport. In Does Anand believe that he triggered off a revolution? “I really don’t know,” says Anand as he pauses to deal with a direct question and continues, “Perhaps, I did things that many did not expect at that time. Now looking back, it does appear like the starting point. But you don’t notice it when you are in the middle of a revolution. It is much later that you realise what has followed.”

Former USSR championship runner-up Grandmaster Artur Yusupov, who has played several Candidate matches through the 1990s, firmly believes “India will continue to grow stronger. With Anand winning the world title, the number of champions coming out of the country will grow.”

Anand has no doubt about the future of Indian chess. “What a fantastic year we’ve had so far! We have the two world junior champions (Abhijeet Gupta and D. Harika) and a few more from the youth sections. It’s just brilliant. The number is sure to grow.”

However, unlike the erstwhile Soviet Union, the Indians are not products of a time-tested system. They are champions in spite of a system that does not encourage chess. Talented children from all parts of the country work on their own with very little support-structure to fall back on. At least at the age-group level, the cash incentive scheme of the Sports Ministry has played a huge role in keeping these children in the game.

Slowing down


Lack of corporate sponsorship and the staid approach of the All India Chess Federation have combined to slow down the progress. When Anand won the title last year, he was of the view that the time was ripe to attract India’s corporate to chess. But the situation has remained unchanged in the past 12 months.

India’s world chess champions since 1987: Viswanathan Anand (World champion, December 2000, 2007, 2008 and World junior champion, 1987).

P. Hari Krishna (World u-10 champion, 1996 and World junior champion 2004); K. Humpy (World girls’ u-10 champion, 1997; World girls’ u-12, 1998; World girls’ u-14, 2000; World junior champion, 2001); Aarthie Ramaswamy (World u-18 champion, 1999).

Deep Sengupta (World u-12 champion, 2000); D. Harika (World girls’ u-14 champion, 2004, World girls’ u-18 champion, 2006 and World junior girls’ champion, 2008); N. Srinath (World u-12 champion, 2005); Sahaj Grover (World u-10 champion, 2005).

Girish A. Koushik (World u-8 champion, 2006); Ivana Furtado (World girls’ u-8 champion, 2006 and 2007); Ch. Mohineesh (World u-10 champion, 2006); Ch Sahajasri (World u-10 champion, 2006).

Abhijeet Gupta (World junior champion, 2008); Sayantan Das (World u-12 champion, 2008); Vidit Gujarathi (World u-14 champion, 2008); Padmini Rout (World girls’ u-14 champion 2008); B. Adhiban (World u-16 champion, 2008).